


You're My Cup of Tea

by AceMoppet



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: A fuckton of tea, Angst, Canon, Fluff, Genderfluid Katsuki Yuuri, Humor, Other, Tea, Victor and Yuuri are salty about how the other drinks their tea, Victor's POV for the most part
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-12-23 08:34:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11986140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceMoppet/pseuds/AceMoppet
Summary: OrThe story in which Victor and Yuuri share over 5 different mornings, each involving tea. Featuring Yuuri I-Like-My-Tea-To-Be-Bitterer-Than-Balls Katsuki and Victor I-Drink-My-Tea-With-Floating-Chunks-Of-Processed-Fruity-Sugar Nikiforov. Join them as they get salty over each other's tea tastes, falling in love with every step of the way.





	1. In Which Our Protagonists Learn of the Other's Disgusting Tea Habits

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ADreamingSongbird](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ADreamingSongbird/gifts).



> So this monster was inspired by the wonderful Rimi. Rimi, Happy Birthday you tea-loving cryptid! You're an amazing writer, and you've inspired so many of us. I'm so glad I met you, and I'm so glad you're my Didi.
> 
> Aight sappy truth time over, you probably want to read this. So go! Be free! And if you like it (not just Didi but the rest of y'all), feel free to leave a kudos or a comment!

**_Set the morning after Victor arrives at Hasetsu_ **

 

“What is  _ that?” _

 

Victor looked up from where he’d been pouring a spoonful of strawberry jam into his extremely bitter (he’d taken one sip and scrunched his face in disgust so quickly he’s pretty sure he pulled a muscle) cup of tea. He blinked, confused at the utter horror in Yuuri’s voice.

 

“What is what?” 

 

“The- Victor, you’re not supposed to pour jam into tea! Especially not Kuding tea!”

 

“Eh? But it’s really bitter!” Victor looked at the tea, which was practically just jam now, and then at Yuuri, who was staring at him like he’d grown a mushroom on his head. Honestly, he flew all the way to Japan to coach the one person who’d given him a brief respite from his depressive spiral, only to be quite soundly rejected by said person. Now, he was heartbroken and stuck in a country where he didn’t understand the language at all beyond the common “Hello!” and “Where’s the bathroom?”. Sue him for wanting jam in his bitter-as-balls tea.

 

Yuuri let out a small, almost unnoticeable huff of breath and played with his blue bracelet. “It’s Kuding tea. It’s supposed to be bitter. It’s the most bitter tea in the whole world.”

 

Victor tilted his head. “Why do you have such bitter tea?” he asked, puzzled. “I can’t imagine it going over well with many of the customers.”

 

“Um, they don’t drink the tea. Only I do.”

 

Victor raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Oh.”

 

“A-and occasionally Mari.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Y-Yeah.” They stared at each other awkwardly, Victor with his jam-laden tea and Yuuri with his bedraggled hair, which he just now realized that he had. He ran his fingers through his hair self-consciously, not looking at Victor, which was probably for the best; Victor was pretty sure he was doing his best impression of Georgi whenever he stared at Anya. 

 

Victor cleared his throat. “Do you- do you want some tea? There’s some still left in the kettle.”  _ Great job, Vitya, you’re offering him his own tea. Idiot. _

 

Yuuri’s face lit up marginally. “Ah, th-thank you!” Then, as if he’d remembered something embarrassing, his face flushed, and he stumbled out of the dining area towards the kitchen.  _ Almost, _ Victor thought bitterly,  _ as if he was trying to get away from me. _

 

As acrid as his lovesick thoughts were, they couldn’t hold a candle to the tea in front of him. Victor frowned; he was never one to waste anything really, what with the concept of throwing away food abhorrent to him. Still, he would be willing to make an exception for this hideous concoction. 

 

He contemplated the idea seriously, but ultimately shook his head and dumped another heap of jam into his tea. It was his fault for picking this tea, not to mention it was Yuuri’s personal tea. Bitter or not, he’d drink every last drop of it, or his name was not Victor Vasilievich Nikiforov.

 

Gritting his teeth, he took a tentative sip and promptly gagged at the taste. The harshness of the liquid bit into his tongue, and even when he swallowed it, he could still taste it in the bitterness that had seeped into his teeth.

 

Victor grabbed the jar of jam and held it over the cup of tea, the gloops of fruity sugar  _ plop-plop-plopping _ into the yellow liquid. Eventually, no more jam could be poured into the cup without it overflowing, and he reluctantly restored the jar to a standing position. Almost half the jam was gone now.

 

He stirred the tea mindlessly, occasionally splitting up a particularly huge chunk. He was just about to drink the hopefully-sweet tea when Yuuri walked in. He walked around Victor, eyes solely focused on his tea and sat down on the floor on the other side of the room, as far away from Victor as possible.

 

_ Of course. Of fucking course. _

 

Victor’s shoulders slumped, but he somehow restrained the sigh struggling to get out. At this point, he’d be lucky if Yuuri even spared him a glance, let alone sat next to him.

 

Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to take everything and move so suddenly, especially since the very person who’d invited him seemed to not want to do anything with him. What was he even doing here?

 

“Um, V-Victor?” 

 

Victor snapped his head up, media smile already pasted on his face. “Yes Yuuri?”

 

For all Yuuri’s previous reticence, he was scrutinizing him quite well. His dark eyes were trained on his face, never flickering away, and he squinted slightly, almost as if he was trying to see the hairline fractures in Victor’s mask. Victor was abruptly thrown back to last December, to the memory of Yuuri dancing with him; Yuuri laughing with him; Yuuri’s eyes, earth-dark and gleaming with stars, staring up at him like he was something, anything, other than Victor Nikiforov, star of the skating world, bound with shackles of ice. He tried to swallow around the sudden lump in his throat, and tasted bitter, though he had a feeling not all of it was caused by the tea.

 

He fought the urge to turn away from Yuuri, instead bringing his cup up to his lips, swallowing a bittersweet sip of tea. He let it linger on his tongue, relishing in the sugary chunks of jam as he peered at Yuuri over the tip of his cup.

 

Finally, Yuuri spoke. “Why did you pour jam into your tea?”

 

Victor swallowed abruptly, almost choking on a big chunk of jam. That was… not what he expected. “Um, because it’s bitter?”  _ Isn’t it obvious? _

 

“Well, yes, I-I know it’s bitter, but, I mean, gah,” Yuuri blushed, clearly tongue-tied for some odd reason. He took a deep breath and started over. “You could’ve poured sugar, we have sugar here. Oh! D-did you know where it was? Ah I’m so sorry, h-here I’ll bring some right back-”

 

“Yuuri.” Yuuri stopped, looking almost fearful as his eyes met Victor’s from across the room. Victor pushed back his utter bewilderment and sent him a reassuring smile. “I know exactly where the sugar is. In Russia, we drink tea with jam in it.”

 

“Eh?” Yuuri scrunched his nose in disgust, perhaps involuntarily. “Why?” And he sounded so _ horrified  _ that Victor had to bite back a laugh.

 

“Well, some people do put sugar in their tea to sweeten it, but there are a couple of us who use jam. Jam just tastes more natural than sugar.”

 

_ “Natural?!” _ Yuuri burst and Victor blinked in surprise. “What’s  _ natural _ about processed fruit pulp?”

 

Victor’s face must’ve been slack with shock, because Yuuri started backpedaling almost immediately, curling inwards and hiding his face. “Ah, no, I-I mean-”

 

_ “Pfffffffft.” _

 

Victor couldn’t help it anymore; he burst out laughing so hard he almost knocked over his tea. He set the cup down with a shaky hand and then let loose, clutching his stomach as he laughed in a way he hadn’t for over four months, and before that, for over three years.

 

Victor sighed as the last of his laughter died down, wiping away the tears in his eyes. When he opened his eyes, he froze when he saw Yuuri looking at him with wide eyes and a soft flush on his equally soft cheeks. Victor’s eyes trailed down to slight part of Yuuri’s mouth, and he gulped quietly at thought of slotting his own mouth over Yuuri’s, kissing away all the  _ bitter, bitter, bitter _ until he could taste the sweet.

 

“Yuuri!” Yuuri jumped at his sister’s shout, as did Victor. 

 

“ _ H-Hai?” _

 

“Are you done yet? Come help us!”

 

“ _ Hai!  _ Just a minute!” Yuuri turned to look at Victor, but the moment, whatever it had been, was broken. Victor swallowed, the sugar coating his tongue and fuzzing his brain. 

 

“Um, s-see you at practice?” Yuuri fidgeted with the rim of his teacup and bit his lip nervously, but still met Victor’s eyes.

 

Victor licked his lips, tongue sweeping up an errant sliver of jam at the corner of his mouth. “Yes,” he whispered.

 

Yuuri’s smile was like the moon in the middle of day, and Victor could only stare helplessly at the shy, slender curve of Yuuri’s mouth. His eyes lit up, and Victor happily drowned in that wonderful, wonderful universe lurking in the depths of Yuuri’s eyes.

 

“ _ Yuuri! _ ” 

 

“ _ H-Hai! _ Coming!” Yuuri broke his gaze and gathered his teacup, spilling a few drops of lukewarm tea over his fingers as he rushed out of the room, leaving Victor all by himself in the empty tea room with his cup of jam tea.

 

Victor smiled.  _ Maybe coming to Japan wasn’t a bad idea after all. _ He took a sip of his tea, and frowned.  _ Though I may need to find more jam. _


	2. In Which Our Protagonists Actually Communicate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Victor,” she asked quietly, “why did you kiss me?”
> 
> Victor blinked at the sudden seriousness in her tone. “Eh?”
> 
> Yuuri leaned forward, and Victor was taken aback by the determined sparkle in her eyes, even as she flushed harder. “Yesterday. On the ice. Why did you kiss me?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaand here's the next chapter! The last half of this was honestly one of my favorite to write. 
> 
> The wonderful Instagram post at the end was made by the talented and lovely Riki! If you want to see more of their art, go check out their art tumblr at https://riki-cartblog.tumblr.com/. They make the most wonderful Victuuri fanarts!
> 
> As always, please enjoy! Feel free to leave a comment or kudos!

**_Set the morning after the Cup of China_ **

 

Victor knocked on Yuuri’s door softly. He had a feeling Yuuri would still be asleep, but he had to make sure that they weren’t up and changing. He’d walked in on them once back in Hasetsu, and he’d learned the hard way to never do that again. Not that he’d wanted to anyway, as it was a gross invasion of privacy, but he’d never made that mistake again. 

 

He knocked again, a bit louder this time. “Yuuri?” he called, waiting for an answer.

 

When none came, he said, “I’m coming in,” and waited a few more seconds before opening the door.

 

The room was incredibly dark, and Victor nearly tripped over a pair of shoes as he entered the room.  _ Really Yuuri?  _ He huffed as he righted himself against the wall, gently pushing the shoes into a corner near the door, and walked deeper into the room, fumbling around for at least a light switch.

 

He flicked one on and hissed as the room flooded with light immediately, bringing up his unoccupied hand to cover his eyes. Across the room, Yuuri groaned and shoved themself deeper into the bed in an attempt to shut out the light. Victor smiled at the sight of the squirming pile of blankets and didn’t move until it settled completely.

 

He placed the bag of breakfast materials on the table and dug through it, careful not to let it rustle too much lest Yuuri wake up. Slowly, he pulled out two packets of tea and a small jar of jam and set them on the kitchen counter, wincing as the glass jar made a tiny  _ clack _ . His eyes darted towards the bed, but Yuuri was still imitating a lump of unmoving bedsheets. He let out a small breath of relief before grabbing the ingredients to make the best batch of tea he could under the circumstances.

 

He had just finished making the tea when he heard a muffled groan from behind him. He carefully set the teacups down before turning around to see Yuuri sitting up, rubbing the sleep from their eyes.

 

“Vic- _ haa- _ tor?” Victor almost cooed when Yuuri opened their eyes, blinking adorably like a baby fawn. Almost, because when Yuuri turned to train those beautiful brown eyes on him, he choked on his own breath. “Is it time to leave?”

 

Victor gulped. “N-not yet, Yuuri!”

 

Yuuri squinted. “Then, why-” they yawned again, this time opening their mouth so much Victor’s own jaw ached in sympathy, “why are you here?” 

 

Victor smiled fondly at the sleepy wonder in their tone. “Because I wanted to drink tea with you,  _ zolotse _ .”

 

Yuuri blinked once, twice, before nodding and twisting around to get their glasses. Victor hoped they didn’t notice the small gasp he’d let out at the sight of the small sliver of skin that was exposed with that little twist. 

 

It was a miracle how steady his hands were when he set the teacups down onto the table. When he turned around from placing the biscuits onto the table, Yuuri was right there behind him, idly fiddling with the pink bracelet on her wrist. 

 

“Good morning, Yuuri.” 

 

Yuuri looked up from her bracelet, and broke into a small, sleepy smile. “Good morning, Victor.”

 

“Well,” Victor pulled her chair out with a flourish, and bowed deeply, “Your breakfast awaits, milady.”

 

Yuuri snorted and smiled wider even as she let Victor tuck in the chair behind her. She waited for Victor to sit down in his seat before sipping her tea. Her eyes lit up with the very first sip.

 

“Ah! Kuding tea! I didn’t think I’d packed mine though…” she closed her eyes in contentment as she took another sip.

 

Victor smiled. “You didn’t. I went out and bought some today.”

 

Yuuri’s eyes snapped open in surprise. “Really? Y-You didn’t have to do that!”

 

Victor rested his chin on his hand and idly took a sip from his own jam-laden tea, never taking his eyes off of Yuuri’s. “I wanted to.”

 

“O-Oh,” Yuuri looked down and took a huge gulp of tea (Victor shuddered at the thought of all that bitter, bitter liquid sloshing down into Yuuri’s stomach), obviously hiding a pleased flush. “Thank you.”

 

“The thanks are mine, Yuuri. It’s a great honor to take care of you, after all.” 

 

Yuuri blushed again, and this time there was no teacup to hide the way the pink spilled over her cheeks and down her neck. 

 

“Victor,” she asked quietly, “why did you kiss me?”

 

Victor blinked at the sudden seriousness in her tone. “Eh?”

 

Yuuri leaned forward, and Victor was taken aback by the determined sparkle in her eyes, even as she flushed harder. “Yesterday. On the ice. Why did you kiss me?”

 

Victor swallowed quietly before dunking his biscuit in his tea. “I told you yesterday,” he said softly, watching the biscuit soften with a laser focus, “I wanted to surprise you.”

 

“Oh,” Yuuri sounded disappointed. Victor looked up to see her looking out window he’d opened earlier, watching the cars rush by on the streets below. “Was that all it was?”

 

The  _ yes _ on the tip of Victor’s tongue shriveled up and died a bitter death, leaving him itching to wash the taste away with a sip of his tea. He ignored the urge though; his next words would redefine his whole relationship with Yuuri, and there would be no going back.

 

So Victor took a deep breath in and gathered all his courage to speak the truth he had been stifling down since last December.

 

“No,” he said, willing Yuuri to look at him. “I didn’t just kiss you because I thought it would surprise you. I kissed you because-” 

 

And Victor had to stop, because Yuuri had turned to look at him, sweet brown eyes filled with fluttering, fluttering hope. “Because?” she urged in a hushed tone that reminded him of sweet brown sugar and the jam swirling in his tea.

 

Victor swallowed again. “Because I love you,” and it came out rushed, and hushed, and not at all like what Victor had planned for it to be, but-

 

Yuuri was looking at him with that sweet sparkle in her eyes, and her cheeks and neck were liberally dusted with a cotton-candy colored blush, and if Victor wasn’t sure he’d been in love before, he was now.

 

“Ne, Yuuri,” he rasped now, licking his lips, “If-if there had been more time, would you have kissed me back?”

 

Yuuri’s eyes stopped sparkling, and she leaned over the table to brush a kiss onto Victor’s lips. 

 

When he’d kissed Yuuri yesterday, it had been too quick to taste them in the moment, but the aftertaste of salty sweat and running makeup had lingered in his mouth up until the moment he’d brushed his teeth reluctantly. 

 

Now, Yuuri tasted of the tea she’d been drinking, and Victor drowned in the  _ bitter, bitter, bitter _ of it happily.

 

When they pulled back, Yuuri leaned her forehead on Victor’s and tried to catch her breath. “Mmmm,” she said, licking her lips and opening her eyes to meet Victor’s, “You taste so sweet. Too sweet.”

 

Victor licked his lips in response, never once looking away from Yuuri. “You taste so bitter,  _ zolotse _ . Too bitter.”

 

Yuuri’s lips quirked up into a smile. “Is that a problem?” She asked, stroking her thumb across Victor’s cheekbone.

 

Victor smiled and brought a hand up to catch hers. “No,” he said softly, nuzzling into her hand, “Because that just makes it bittersweet.”

 

Yuuri’s smile widened. “I think I like that.” And with that, she leaned in for another kiss, tea and biscuits entirely forgotten.

 

Extra:

****_  
_

 

 

 


End file.
